In Brooklyn Center speech, Walker to unveil Obamacare alternative

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican candidate for president, will use a Brooklyn Center speech next week to unveil his plans for an alternative to Obamacare.

Walker is scheduled to speak Tuesday morning at Cass Screw Machine Company in Brooklyn Center. In an op-ed piece published Friday in National Review, Walker promised that "my plan will actually make health care more affordable for everyone."

While Walker called for repealing President Obama's signature health care law "in its entirety," he indicated he would retain at least one popular feature of the law: guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions.

A nationwide survey by Gallup released earlier this week found that the number of people without health insurance dropped significantly in both Minnesota and Wisconsin from 2013 to 2015, as major provisions of Obamacare took effect. Minnesota's uninsured rate went from 9.5 percent to 4.6 percent in that time while in Wisconsin it went from 11.7 to 5.6 percent, according to the survey.

But Walker argues in the magazine piece that the federal health law has left many Americans with higher insurance premiums and fewer medical options.

A Duluth native who just barely lost Virginia's GOP gubernatorial primary said that politicians have not gone far enough in condemning the left for violence during a rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville. "I think that the left is going to try to use this as an excuse to crack down on conservative free speech," said Corey Stewart. "I think they're going to try to use this as an excuse to remove more historical monuments."